What happens when the world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer challenges the most dominant e-commerce retailer? Enhancements and upgrades that ultimately improve the customer experience. This August, Walmart rolled out an updated website primarily geared towards providing shoppers with an easier, faster and more personalized online shopping experience.  This consumer-centric approach, made famous by Amazon, aims to make shopping easier and to ultimately increase Walmart’s e-commerce revenue.

New services within the revamped Walmart.com include a feature that suggests future product purchases related to previous purchases. In addition, the homepage will now be personalized for each shopper based on location and past searches, as well as a ‘My Local Store’ section that allows shoppers to see what’s going on at their local retail location.  The mobile website version has also been enhanced for faster and easier use. The site will adjust its content and images to better fit the devices screen display. In the future, Walmart reportedly plans to include an even faster checkout process with fewer pages to click through, an upgraded store finder, and a more flexible screen.

While sales at Walmart’s brick-and-mortar stores have been relatively stagnant, its e-commerce sales have been encouraging as of late.  During its most recent fiscal year, online sales reached nearly $10 billion – far cry from Amazon’s recent $74.4 billion annual figures. However, online retailing is clearly a growth engine for Walmart.  Amazon hasn’t been one to stay rested in its way, so expect more changes to its own user experience in the near future as well.